


The Sky is in Your Eyes

by LitDragonWagon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Barista Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), College Student Keith (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk is a pastry wizard, I Stan Shiro's s1 Hair, Keith and Pidge are true best friends, Keith is hopelessly gay, Keith's a fucking idiot, Lance has many shitty pickup lines, M/M, Pidge hates her job, Pokemon Go used as a plot device, Requited Unrequited Love, Shay bakes the Best Bread for the Best Boy, Shiro plays too much pokemon go, also uh, bcos apparently that's something we're doing now idfk, coffee shop AU, college-age Shiro, leakira - Freeform, mentioned hunk/shay - Freeform, they are in love, they're all college students actually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-01 07:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitDragonWagon/pseuds/LitDragonWagon
Summary: Nine times that Lance told Keith a pick up line, and the one time he had one of his own.(Otherwise titled, Someone Finally Falls for Shitty Pickup Lines)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't seen the shit show that is season 7, so no spoilers from me *thumbs up*. Enjoy some fluffy, self indulgent coffee shop AU garbage! Also I wrote this in like a couple of hours and didn't edit hard so. Be gentle with me.

1.

It all starts, as many life-changing things do, on a cheery Monday morning.

It’s 8:00, the sun is shining brightly, the birds are chirping sweetly, people are making their ways hurriedly to their jobs, and Keith is squinting with a bleary sort of anger toward the sky as he makes his way down the sidewalk. He’s _tired_. He’s been up all night, working on a paper for a psychology class he sucks at, and a professor that he hates, and what he _really_ wants is a nice, dreary morning that reflects how he’s feeling inside. Sort of...on fire-ish.

But instead, it’s freezing out, everyone seems to be smiling at one another in their winter coats and warm boots, and here he is, burning with rage (and because he refuses to relinquish his favorite jacket even though it’s bordering on freezing, also very cold).

In lieu of his perfect morning (y'know, the fire, the screams, maniacal cackling), he's willing to settle for some coffee. That’s why he’s out so early, see? He doesn’t have class until 9:00; he could’ve laid down for half an hour and had the power nap he so dearly deserves. But instead, he’s out and about, with a single goal in mind. _Caffeine_.

He huffs out a sigh, tilting his head down so that the sun’s no longer in his eyes (because glaring at the sun is ineffective and painful and Shiro told him not to), and looks down at the maps app on his phone again, hoping he’s heading in the right direction. Shiro had given him the address for this coffee shop a few weeks ago, but Keith never ended up going because he’s just been too busy to bother with anything other than doing his schoolwork and running his stress off. But, considering the circumstances, this seemed like as good a time as any to check the place out.

Of course, he _was_ going to just hit the first starbucks he saw, but then Shiro happened to pop up as he was heading out the door, and he just couldn’t refuse his roommate’s puppy dog eyes, not with all his defences down from sheer exhaustion (and he’s certain Shiro knows this). Though, if Shiro hadn’t gotten rid of all the coffee in the apartment on one of his cleaning sprees (it was only a _little_ bit expired, Keith doesn’t know why that was important anyway), this wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. Keith swears, if Shiro goes through his side of the pantry one more time, he’s gonna--

He curses as he trips over a crack in the sidewalk and almost drops his phone. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” He asks the sidewalk, disgusted, then he shakes his head at himself, puts his phone away, and strides off as quickly as he can, hoping that no one noticed his lapse in sanity. Fortunately it seems no one did, and he’s able to manage the rest of the way to the coffee shop unmolested by evil sidewalks.

He stalks irritably to the door, bells cheerfully jingling as he opens it, and he breathes in the scent of coffee with satisfaction. It fills him with determination. Looking around, he’s a little surprised with the interior of the shop. It’s larger than he expected, and filled to the brim with homey comfort. At the moment, it’s full of the scent of pumpkin spice in a nod to festive cheer, which he breathes in with relief as he moves away from the doorway.

He bumps into two chairs and a table on his way over to the counter, fortunately all uninhabited, and finds himself at the end of a three person line, which is admittedly a good thing, despite the fact that he wants his coffee _now_. At least now he has time to choose his drink from the expansive menu, and sort his way through the Shiro-approved phrases he’s got stashed away in his mind for social interaction (because he tends to offend people when he’s tired). He thinks he falls asleep somewhere between line-goers 1 and 2, because he blinks and the barista is giving someone their order, and it’s about to be his turn.

He hears the barista is chatting with the other customer, so Keith takes a moment to stare awkwardly at the menu some more, then focus his eyes on the counter in front of him, and try to shape his mind in preparation for normal human interaction without making eye contact. He hears motion in front of him and looks up, his order on the tip of his tongue, and damn near swallows said appendage as the barista turns to him.

The man is...surprisingly attractive, and Keith did not properly prepare himself for this scenario. His poor, gay, sleep deprived mind is shutting down, and that’s probably not a good sign. He stares at the barista blankly until he realizes that he probably looks like a total basket case, so he blinks a couple of times, and reminds himself to breath. He almost flinches as the barista opens his mouth, and mentally scrambles to get his mind back in order so that he can order.

“Can I tie your shoes? I can’t have you falling for someone else.” The voice is a light tenor, and blue eyes glint with the force of a goofy, devilish smirk. Keith opens his mouth to spit out his order (a simple latte with almond milk, because that’ll have a reasonable amount of caffeine, right? ...maybe he should get 2), but pauses. Blinks. Processes. Blinks again. Then raises an eyebrow.

Did he fall asleep again? He subtly pinches his arm, and the pain both reassures him the this is _not_ a dream, and wakes him up a bit. That means this barista is probably a hallucination (or maybe a real person, but go off I guess). Keith stays frozen for a moment more out of pure incredulousness, then barks out a laugh and smirks. “Is that the best you’ve got?” He asks, for lack of any better response, because this hallucination’s game is _weak_.

The barista looks surprised for a moment, then grins at him, wide and friendly. “No way in hell, I’ve got a whole repertoire of these, just waiting to be used on a pretty thing like you.” He says, and winks saucily. Keith almost retorts, but then realizes that he’s listing to the side a bit, and decides that he really needs to get some coffee. Like...right now.

So, he rolls his eyes with a snort, conceding temporary defeat, and says, “Alright lover boy.” He runs a hand through his hair, now even more tired and generally confused than before, and rattles off his order (though he does stick to one latte instead of two, because what if he died of caffeine overdose? That would be lame).

The barista frowns after he finishes speaking, and Keith internally sighs, mentally running back over what he said and wondering how he managed to offend someone when he used only Shiro Approved (™) phrases. Maybe he put them in the wrong order or something. He opens his mouth to apologize (because he _really needs his coffee_ ), but the barista stops him before he manages to say anything.

“I’m sorry,” the barista says, “We actually don’t have almond milk right now. If it’s a lactose issue, we _do_ have soy milk?” He’s all apologetic and frowny and there’s this little wrinkle in his forehead between his eyebrows and Keith needs him to stop because this is ridiculously unfair to spring on him when he’s at least 72% asleep.

Either way, Keith isn’t lactose intolerant, and he couldn’t care less at this point, honestly, because he needs caffeine and he needs it _yesterday_. He somehow manages to communicate this to the barista, whose face lights up as he sends him another wink, grin, and pair of finger guns, then spins off to the (slightly ancient looking) coffee machine. Keith moves off to the side to wait, and stares blankly out the window as he tries to get his brain to boot up past a loading screen.

A few moments (possibly seconds, or minutes maybe, because Keith has no fucking clue) later, Keith is roused from his stupor with a friendly tap on the shoulder. He blinks, tired eyes trying to shift to a glare, failing, and settling for a slight scowl instead. Turning, he accepts the cup, the barista’s sincere apology about their lack of almond milk, and the barista’s excessively handsome smile with a small smirk and a quiet blink.

He only notices the phone number and winky face written on his cup after he’s already halfway to class, and he snorts because this is a strangely long lasting hallucination. He drains the coffee, then tosses the cup and number without thinking much on it.

2.

Keith trips, almost over balancing, and rights himself as he skids around a corner, cursing Wednesdays. He nearly runs someone over, and he sends an apology their way, but doesn’t pause, because he’s gonna be _late_. It’s 8:40, and he’s still about 20 minutes from campus, and he still needs to pick up coffee.

And yes, he _needs_ to. It’s imperative. A situation of life and death. Well, for other people anyway, because he’s gonna kill someone if he doesn’t get caffeine. Shiro wouldn’t approve.

He darts into a vaguely familiar coffee shop, and wonder of wonders, there’s no line. He comes to a stop in front of the counter, glancing up at the menu to reassure himself that this _is_ in fact a coffee shop, and he _can_ get caffeine here. Before he can actually state his order, he hears a familiar voice say, “Damn son, is your name Wifi? Because I’m feelin’ one hell of a connection!”

He glances down from the menu, confused, and is met with the barista from his strange hallucination the other day, goofy smirk, finger guns and all. Except he’s nowhere near that level of tired now, so there’s no excuse this time. This guy is _actually this way_. That’s fucking hilarious.

Keith has to take a moment to process, but then he snorts out a laugh. “I can’t believe you actually say those to people. Did you just go on the internet and search for pickup lines?”

The barista holds a hand to his chest in mock offense, his eyes glittering with amusement. “You dare to accuse me of not having a creative spirit? Shame on you!” The barista tuts, and Keith rolls his eyes. Said eyes widen as he remembers that he’s gonna be fucking _late_.

“I need an almond milk latte,” he says quickly, now shifting from foot to foot in his jittery haste to _get the fuck out of there_. The barista frowns, and Keith wonders if the man is annoyed with him for his curtness. He’s in a rush though!

But, the man only says, “Sorry dude, we haven’t gotten any since you came in a couple of days ago. Is soy milk still okay?”

Keith nods, waving him off. “Yeah, it’s fine. I just like the taste of almond milk, but whatever you’ve got is good.” He glances over the man’s shoulder, taking in the clock on the wall and the fact that it’s now 8:45. “But hurry man!” He says frantically, “I’ve gotta get to class, like, 5 minutes ago!” The barista’s eyes widen, and the man sends him a hurried salute before going off to create his coffee.

Keith spends the minute and a half it takes to make his coffee bouncing from foot to foot, warming himself up for a serious sprint. By the time the barista brings his coffee over, he’s pumped and ready to go. He hands the guy a 5, spits out some random words about keeping the change, and books it. He thinks he hears laughter behind him, but he’s not sure.

He makes it to class with 3 minutes to spare, and he sits at his desk, gasping for air for a moment until he can regain his breath. He chugs his coffee, and as he gets up to throw his cup in the garbage, he notices there’s black ink on his hand. Upon further investigation, it’s from the cup; a number that is now too blurred by his hand sweat to be legible, though he can still see the winky face. He snorts, amused, and tosses the cup anyway. That barista is one hell of a joker.

3.

It's a Thursday, and Keith's actually running early for once. He's pleased by this strange turn of events, if a little unnerved. He got a good night's sleep, his homework's actually completed (even that  _fucking_ lab report for biology), and he's even done an outline for an English essay that isn't due for another week. His crops are watered, his face is clear, and his depression is...bottled, at least. Today is a good day.

Keith walks casually on the sidewalk, dodging around people who are in a rush because for once he _isn't_  them, as he heads to the coffee place he stopped at yesterday morning. What can he say, he wants coffee. And it certainly has nothing to do with that barista, okay Shiro?? Yes he  _does_ actually like coffee, and whoever told Shiro he doesn't is a filthy liar.

Anyway, he slips into the coffee place, and there's only one person in line in front of him. Since he already knows what he wants, he doesn't bother to look at the menu, focusing on his phone. He's got a bit until class, since his class today doesn't start until 10:15, so he could probably go for a run? But then he'd have to drop his stuff off...nah, he'll probably just go to the library and get some studying in--

"Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got "fine" written all over you." He hears, and he looks up, grinning.

"You're really one hell of a trip, aren't you?" Keith asks, rhetorically, and the barista smirks at him. Keith's sure he thinks it makes him look sexy, but it's honestly the goofiest think Keith's ever seen. (It totally doesn't make his heart throb.)

"Would you like to find out?" The barista asks, and Keith snorts in amusement.

"Yeah, not today." He decides, ignoring the barista's pout, and says, "I'd like an almond milk latte." He expects to be told he can't have one again, but the barista surprises him by grinning brilliantly.

"Yeah, awesome! I'm glad you came in today, I actually picked some almond milk up on my way to work today, just in case you came in," He explains and winks, and turns back to the coffee machine just in time to miss Keith going supernova, his blush spreading all the way down to the back of his neck. The barista...literally went and got almond milk with his _own money_...for him?? That's??? Really sweet????

Keith turns and puts his back to the counter, and puts his face in his hands for a moment, praying for the blush to die down before the barista turns back around. But jesus, that's literally such a stupid (nice) thing to do. What if Keith hadn't come in today? What if he'd ordered something different? What if he literally never came back? Agh, this barista and his stupid cute outfit and his goofy smirk and his dumb finger guns and his _idiotic_ pick up lines--he's gonna drive Keith crazy.

"Hey, you alright?" He hears from behind him, and he tries to get his act together. He scrubs his hands across his cheeks and hopes his blush has gone down to a reasonable amount (even though, with his pale skin, it probably hasn't).

"Yeah, I'm fine." He mumbles, and pulls out a 10 to pay for his drink.

"Nah man, it's on the house. Well, sort of." The barista says, and Keith blinks at him, confused out of avoiding eye contact. The barista's watching him with eyes that sparkle like water under the sun, and that crinkle at the edges with his own amusement. Keith opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He's...he's really too gay to be let outside, why does Shiro let him outside?

The barista continues, as though Keith isn't an awkward black hole when it comes to conversation, "When you were here yesterday, you threw a 20 at me and ran away. I figured I could add it to your tab, but like, in reverse. You've still got," The barista glances at something to his left, "Four drinks left."

"I-I--" Keith begins, then realizes he doesn't even know what to say. Most people would've just taken the leftover, or put it in the tip jar, at least, but this guy just fuckin'...added it to a nonexistent tab. What the fuck, he's so stupid. Keith loves him.

"Thank you," he finally decides, smiling softly, and picking up his drink, before turning to leave.

"Y-yeah, no problem." The barista stutters at his back, and Keith turns to blink at him, vaguely concerned. But the barista has turned away from him, his shoulders hunched up around his ears. Said ears look a little red, but Keith figures he's probably just imagining things.

He leaves the coffee shop with a smile still playing on his lips.

4.

So, it’s Friday. Keith got a good night’s sleep, has no classes, and thus has no need for coffee. But, somehow, he’s found himself back at the coffee shop again? At 8:30 in the morning? Yeah, he’s not really sure about the logistics of this, but standing outside the place shifting from foot to foot isn’t really getting him anywhere, so he heads inside.

Crossing the threshold, he notices that there’s a surprising amount of people there, so instead of getting in the long, he just finds himself a table to sit at for a moment. The smell of coffee fills the air, and he breathes it in contently, then turns his gaze on the barista. Just for a moment though, then he looks back down at his phone, and reminds himself not to be a creep.

He manages to look away for a good couple of minutes, before he finds himself staring again. He mentally punches himself in the face, frowns, and turns his gaze back to his phone. After a moment, he opens it to Angry Birds, which he still has because 1, Shiro is an actual child who needs something to do when he steals Keith’s phone or else he’ll start messing with the settings, and 2, Keith just finds that he can really identify with those birds. They’re so angry, just like him.

When even the dulcet tones of screaming birds and defeated pigs doesn’t keep his attention from the blue-eyed menace of a barista, Keith gives in, and commences with low key staring (ie looking like a total fucking stalker). It only takes a few minutes of staring before he notices something that, well...it doesn’t _displease_ him, because he definitely doesn’t care, but, well…

Barista boy flirts. Like. With everyone, it seems. He’s hanging over the counter, chatting with this really pretty, light blonde haired girl when Keith first realizes. And then he’s making wiggly eyebrows at this hot, brown haired guy. And then he’s grinning at this dude in a suit. And so on. So. The guy just does this with...everyone.

That’s okay. Really! That’s totally fine. It’s not like Keith cares anyway, he barely knows the guy. And he’s not even that attracted to him, so it’s whatever. Still, Keith thinks he’s probably done in this shop for the day.

He stands from his seat by the window, and begins to head for the door, then pauses. He’s been here for--well, a glance at his watch shows he’s been here for about an hour. He should probably buy something then, right? He breathed up their air for that long, took up a table, probably scared people off with his general standoffishness--the least he can do is give the place some replacement service.

So, he walks (sorta shuffles, really, but same thing) up to the long line at the counter. And he waits. He tries to occupy himself by playing angry birds again on his phone, but...he’s just not feeling it anymore. He finally reaches the front and, eyes locked on the menu, he quickly rattles off a random order, just trying to get out of there. Shiro’ll probably drink it, whatever it is.

“Man, your body is 75% water, and I’m hella thirsty,” is the response he gets, and it confuses him _just_ enough for him to look down from the menu to take in the barista. And there he is, finger guns, gleaming smile and all. And, even in his (entirely random) slump, Keith can’t help the slight smile on his lips.

“Maybe you should make yourself a drink then,” Keith replies, raising one eyebrow slightly.

Barista boy’s eyes widen, and he asks, “On you??” leaning so far forward that he almost topples over the counter.

Keith snorts, and his small smile becomes a full grin. “You wish.” Barista boy sends him a wounded look, and picks himself up with an affronted dignity, though his smiling eyes tell that no harm was done.

“So, what do you want?” He asks, and Keith snorts again.

“Is this how you treat valued customers?” Barista boy laughs (and holy _shit_ that’s a gorgeous laugh), and Keith decides that he needs to get away from this flirty bastard and his cute laugh and his pretty face and the way he apparently flirts with everyone like he flirts with Keith. “I’d like a--” he pauses and glances up at the menu again, because he actually forgot what he said the first time, then shrugs and says, “An almond milk latte, please.”

"Comin' right up!" Barista boy exclaims, shooting him a wink, and Keith almost smiles before he remembers that barista boy does this for everyone, and frowns a bit instead.

His drink is mixed and retrieved in short order, and soon he's walking out of the coffee shop, a little downtrodden, and a lot annoyed with himself. He spends the rest of the day lounging around, but not because he's upset with his unfortunate lovelife or anything, just because he's, y'know. Lazy.

Also, he's uh...probably never going back there again.

5.

It's Thursday, a couple of weeks later, and Keith desperately needs coffee again. Like, actually, he's so tired that he's seeing double, and he's _so sick_ of mountain dew at this point. Just thinking about the taste of it makes him shudder a bit. So yeah, coffee it is. Also fuck midterms, they suck.

And sure, he _could_ go to another coffee shop--one of the many Starbucks that lines the streets, or even another of the small businesses that are around, but honestly? He really liked the atmosphere of that place. Regardless of how much he may or may not have liked the barista (and how embarrassed he is that his stupid gay heart still throbs thinking about the guy, even though he's just a terrible flirt), he just liked the homeyness of their business.

So, he turns off of the street he's idly walking along (honestly he doesn't even remember why he's there), to head toward the coffee shop.

He walks in and the place is almost empty, which makes a lot of sense considering it's just after the lunch rush on a Thursday afternoon. There's literally just one other customer, who is staring unblinking at a computer screen as they type like crazy, a frantic expression on their face. Keith gets that feel, and it's nice to see that he isn't the only one suffering. Call him a terrible person, but it makes him feel better.

He blinks a bit blearily, looking for a clear path through the tables, and debates whether or not he wants to just go the long way around. Sure, it'd be easier to just take the path along the wall, but...would it get him to caffeine _faster_?

Then he hears someone call out, "Oh, hey!" He looks up, and there's barista boy, grinning like mad. Keith glances around a bit, wondering if someone else is there, but no, it's just him. Barista boy is surprisingly excited to see him, and he's not sure that he can handle this level of enthusiasm while he's dead inside.

Barista boy looks like he's just about ready to hop the counter and run over, so Keith saves them both the embarrassment of that, and decides to walk through tables. He winds around abandoned chairs and bumps into a couple of the round table edges before he finally makes it over. Barista boy is still grinning at him, and Keith feels like he needs sunglasses to protect him from that almost literally _glowing_ smile. He raises his hand to shade his eyes, but then realizes that's probably weird, and does a sort of half-wave instead. Barista boy waves back at him, enthusiastically.

"Hey man!" He exclaims, once Keith is close enough. He holds out a hand for a fist bump, and Keith, in all his sleep deprived glory, takes about half a minute to register what's expected of him, then knocks his knuckles against the tan ones offered to him. Barista boy doesn't seem to mind, easily moving past the moment to state, "Jeez, I was worried we'd scared you off or, uh," he scratches the back of his head sheepishly, "Maybe something'd happened to you, I don't know."

Keith blinks. That's...really cute. Then he shakes his head, both to clear his thoughts, and in answer to Barista boy's question. "Nah, I've just been really busy with midterms." He offers, when he realizes Barista boy's still staring at him.

"Yeah, I totally get that. They're an absolute downer, aren't they? I'm glad I work in a coffee shop, I can get coffee whenever I want y'know?" The barista says, grinning, and then his grin becomes a smirk. "Also, since I forgot when you first entered," he pauses thoughtfully, then says, "Are you sure you're not tired? You've been running through my mind all day." Finger guns and all.

Keith stares at him, probably for a few moments too long, then replies, "I haven't slept in 48 hours."

The barista blinks wide blue eyes, then says conversationally, "Holy shit. Would you like your regular then?" Keith nods, likely a couple of times too many, and the barista just grins at him, and sends him off to go sit in a chair while he makes Keith's coffee. Keith collapses gratefully, scrubbing his hands across his eyes and blinking hard.

When he looks up, the barista's humming something, shaking his hips to an imaginary beat. Keith can't help but watch, eyes drawn to that mesmerizing sway, and he _really_ hopes the barista doesn't look at him right now, because he doesn't have the presence of mind to look away before they make eye contact. And that'd be really awkward.

It feels like he blinks, and then Barista boy's shaking his shoulder. "Hey man, you doin' alright?" He says, looking very concerned, and Keith frowns up at him.

"No, I'm dying." The barista freezes for a moment, then snorts, rolling his eyes. Keith smiles quietly at him, sipping his coffee, and trying to remind himself why it'd be a bad idea to be attracted to this flirty son of a gun any more than he already is, and also why it's an even _worse_ idea to act on it and get his heart broken. He nods a bit to himself. Correct, good job him.

"Ah man, you're a fucking riot." The barista grins, winking at him again.

Keith quirks a little smile and says quietly, "Glad to be of service." After a couple more sips, Keith puts the coffee down on the table and finally gets to his feet, groaning as he stretches out the kinks in his back. He's been bent up over a computer for what feels like _forever_ , and he doesn't think his back is ever gonna be the same.

He opens his eyes when he hears a choked sound, and the barista is staring at him, a little red in the cheeks. "What's up?" He asks, following the barista's line of sight. It's directed at something around his waist, and he glances down. Is his fly down or something?

"What? Uh, n-nothing. Sorry, I gotta go, uh, wash the machine. Have a good day though!" The barista is backing away from him as he says it, and he bumps into almost as many chairs as Keith did on his way in here as he makes his escape into the back room.

"Huh." Keith remarks. Then he shrugs, because he's way too tired to deal with this. He makes his way out of the shop, and stands on the sidewalk, looking up it, and down it, wondering what he's supposed to be doing right now.

Then he groans as he remembers that he was _supposed_ to meet up with Shiro at a restaurant for lunch as a celebration for the end of midterms, that's why he was on that sidewalk earlier. Sighing, he pulls out his phone to find that there's already a ton of messages and a couple of missed calls from his roommate. He hits the call back button, and as soon as it connects he's saying, "Hey, sorry, I completely forgot," over the sound of Shiro's verbal flailing as he walks back toward their apartment.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! Thanks for all the comments and such, they make my day XD. Hope ya'll enjoy this one too. There's a quick texting bit, where texts are shown by // on either side of dialogue. I chopped the final bit to be another chapter, bcos it was long enough that I didn't want to add it on here XD, so I guess I'll see ya next chapter too!

6.

It's Saturday morning, and Keith is out and about. He's honestly not sure where he's going, or why he's out on a Saturday morning when he could be sleeping.

Well, part of that's not true, actually. He knows _why_ he's out here--he felt like he really needed to get out of the apartment. Midterms are over with, so Shiro's going on a cleaning spree, and getting rid of the mess that both of them made when they barely cared about anything other than studying and trying to get good grades. Keith knows that his study corner is _covered_ in empty Cheetos bags and mountain dew bottles, and Shiro's got a ton of dirty mugs from all the green tea he was drinking--among other messes the two of them left. Keith didn't really wanna get roped into that, so he woke up early and made his escape before Shiro woke up.

He's been wandering the streets for a bit; he hatched a 5km egg in Pokemon go a bit ago, and then realized he was really bored, and still tired from all the sleeping he didn't do during midterms. All he wants to do is sit down somewhere comfy, but his apartment isn't an option because Shiro's probably turned the couch inside out by now trying to clean it, and also Keith really, really doesn't wanna deal with Shiro on a cleaning spree. Nor does he want to clean his mess up yet. So much effort.

And then he remembers the coffee shop with the soft, squashy armchairs and the mismatched tables (and the boy with eyes that sparkle like the ocean and shine like the sun), and decides that he'll just…head there. He's even got his laptop, so he can start looking over what his teachers (tormentors) will be starting them on after their week of break.

It only takes him a couple of minutes to get there (perhaps his subconscious was leading him here anyway). They appear to have just opened and no one's there yet, which makes sense; It's only just reached 7 on a Saturday morning. Keith came out way earlier than he'd realized, no wonder he's still exhausted. He slips in, immediately looking around for his favorite barista, but he's disappointed when, instead of the blue-eyed dude he expects, there's a large man with an orange headband instead.

Well, not _disappointed_ , but y'know. Surprised.

Instead of heading straight over to the counter, he directs himself left, to the armchairs along the walls, and sits himself down in a red one. He lets out a _long_ sigh, shuffling a bit to get comfy, stretching his legs out and throwing back his head. These chairs are just as comfy as they looked like they would be. He thinks he's gonna live here now. There's comfy chairs, hot, unattainable eye candy, and food whenever he wants it--what more could he ever need?

He's interrupted by someone clearing their throat, and he immediately jerks up, pulling his legs in close, assuming that they want to move past him. Instead though, it's the big guy, the barista. Up closer he looks even more massive, his muscles are _huge_ , his brown eyes are beautiful, and Keith is very gay.

"Hey dude," the guy says, a little intimidating despite his small smile, and Keith blinks at him.

"Hi." Keith replies, with a tiny smile like he isn't considering sprinting away at any moment, and the guy's smile widens. It transforms his whole face, and he goes from mildly intimidating to adorable in literally 2 seconds flat. Keith is very, very gay.

"Yeah, I can see why Lance likes you." The guy says, and Keith cocks his head a bit. Who the hell is Lance? "Here, this is on the house." The guy offers, and Keith notices he's got some kind of strawberry pastry on a napkin, cupped between his massive palms. It looks delicious, and Keith very much likes strawberries, but he's a bit confused.

"Uh, thanks. Is this some kind of promotional thing?" Keith asks, taking the pastry slowly. He takes a bite out of it and really hopes he didn't make an inappropriate noise, because that is one  _good fucking pastry_.

"Nah dude, this is just from me. Lance was in a bit of a slump for a while before you came in, and I'm really glad to see him out of it. This is just a thank you." The guy says, then he reaches out a fist, "Oh, and I'm Hunk, by the way."

Keith reaches out his fist as well, knocking his knuckles against Hunk's, and then slowly says, "You're welcome, I guess? But who the hell is Lance?" Hunk blinks at him, then bursts out laughing.

"He never told you his name??" Hunk wheezes, bent almost double, "He's been talking about you for like three weeks and he never even told you his name, he's such a mess." Hunk catches his breath, scrubbing a massive hand through his shaggy hair, and Keith's just kind of just…staring at him. Confused, but he finds himself smiling anyway, because this guy just has that kind of aura. If he's laughing or smiling, you wanna smile with him. It's pure and wholesome, and normally Keith would hate it, but this time, he somehow just appreciates it.

"Lance is the barista who's normally here," Hunk says, "I'm just filling in for him at the moment because he's running a bit late today. I'm usually just the pastry chef."

Hunk already has his attention as soon as he gives barista boy a name (Lance. That sounds like something barista boy would make a dick joke out of), but at the second half of the sentence, Keith's eyes snap to Hunk's with enough speed that the man flinches a bit. "You made this?" Keith asks, though it probably sounds more like a threat.

Hunk stares at him, wide eyed, "Y-yeah man. Was it bad or something?"

Keith shoots to his feet, and even _he's_ unsure of whether or not he's planning to kiss the man, or knock him out and drag him to his basement where he can make pastries for Keith forever. But considering he doesn't have a basement…he goes down on one knee. "Marry me." He says, almost completely serious. He doesn't have a ring, so he's just holding up what's left of the pastry. Hunk stares at him for a moment, shocked, then bursts out laughing again. He laughs so hard that he has to take a seat.

"Ohhhhh my god, you two are _made_ for each other." Hunk says, and Keith's not sure _who's_ made for him, but he doesn't have _time_ for them anymore, not when this beautiful man with pastry magic has fallen into his life.

Keith's still on one knee when he hears the door open again somewhere off to his left, and a familiar voice say, "Honey, I'm home~!" Hunk, who has finally moved on to giggly wheezing, calls back, "Neither of us lives here," and the voice replies, "But you don't deny that I'm your honeyyy--uh, what's going on here?"

Keith turns his head, and there's barista boy, or Lance he supposes, staring at the two of them with wide blue eyes. Keith doesn't know how to respond, but Hunk says, "He just found out I make the pastries." And Lance nods a bit, like that makes sense. It really doesn't, and Keith suddenly realizes that he's a very awkward person and Hunk probably isn't going to accept his proposal (which is for the best), so he stands up, stuffing one hand into his pocket as he takes another bite out of the pastry. "Also, you do realize that you never told him your name, right?" Hunk adds.

Lance blinks at the two of them, still a bit struck, and says, "Well, I--I keep forgetting my name-tag and I dunno, it never came up? I also don't know his name either, so--" He turns and looks at Keith, "What is your name, actually?"

Keith says, "Keith," through a mouthful of amazing, and nothing else.

Lance points at him, "See, that's Keith, I'm Lance, you're a beautiful sunshine child named Hunk, and--" his eyes narrow with a sudden thought, "What kind of stories have you been telling about me, my love?"

"Nothing too revealing, my darling." Hunk replies with an arched eyebrow, and Keith finds himself snorting as Lance frowns at Hunk, and starts yelping about privacy, arms waving. It's like watching a chihuahua bark at a saint bernard, it's literally so funny.

They all turn as a customer walks in, the two employees suddenly remembering that they do in fact have jobs here, and scrambling away with quick goodbyes to Keith, who just waves at them and sits back down. He feels kind of like he just got through a particularly friendly hurricane, but…he likes it. He _likes_ Lance and Hunk. Like, forget the crush he has ( _had_ ) on the barista, he just likes these two as people. And they seem to actually like him for some reason--and not for his grades or reputation either.

Shiro's always bitching about how Keith needs more friends than just him and Pidge, so…maybe this is a good opportunity? He'll never be in a relationship with Lance (the guy doesn't really like him anyway, he's just a flirty shit--look at how he greeted Hunk!), but he can probably be friends with him. And honestly, that'd be enough.

Keith nods to himself decisively, then sits back down in his squashy armchair and pulls out his laptop. He's determined to get some work done, revelations aside.

-

He hangs out there for most of the day, watching Lance out of the corner of his eye (Hunk has retreated to the back, probably to create more pastries), and doing a bit of research for his upcoming psychology project. The rush doesn't slow down until about 1 in the afternoon, and by this point Keith is very much engulfed in his research (he's totally playing on his phone).

He's startled when Lance collapses in the chair across from him, groaning. He carefully doesn't trace the line of that long neck with his eyes, and instead asks, "Busy day, huh?" Y'know, like a casual person. Even if his heartbeat is anything but.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Lance says, and finally sits up, focusing blue eyes on Keith. "Hunk's still trapped in the back baking, and this is the first break we've had in customers all day. I'm freakin' tired." Lance blinks at him, and then smirks, "Oh right, almost forgot." he clears his throat, then announces, "I was wondering if you had an extra heart, because mine was just stolen." and shoots Keith finger guns.

Keith, completely deadpan and without breaking eye contact, reaches down and starts rummaging around in his bag. He pulls his empty hand out, and says, "Nope. Guess you'll perish."

Lance snorts at him, grinning. "I can really get behind your deadpan humor, bro."

Keith grins back. "Glad to hear it. It'd be hard to be friends otherwise." Lance cocks a brow at him, frowning a bit, and Keith blinks back. Tooootally chill.

"Is…that what we are? Friends?" Lance asks, and Keith's grin softens a bit.

"I'd like to be," He says, and Lance gives him a small smile that, despite its size, still lights up the room. Keith's honestly a bit dazzled from it, and he thinks he's gonna be seeing afterimages of that in his mind for a while.

"Great. I'd like to be too," Lance says, and then, "Wait here." He quickly hops up, energy apparently restored, and heads over to the coffee machine. Keith watches him as he makes some sort of coffee, then heads back over. "Don't throw away my number this time," Lance warns him, and Keith smirks.

"I'll consider it," he says airily, even as he pulls out his phone, and puts Lance's number in.

Lance is grinning at him, and Keith's smiling his own slightly crooked smile back, and it feels like this is the start of a new chapter of his life.

7.

It's a Friday afternoon, and Keith isn't sure exactly how it happened, but he's going out with Lance.

Not on a _date_ or anything, but…they're meeting up in 15 minutes, and Keith's feeling pretty stressed. Red keeps turning around to glare at him when he takes corners too quickly, and that's entirely fair, so he slows himself down and tries to find some chill.

Alright, it happened like this.

So Keith and Lance were texting back and forth like they've been doing for the past week since Lance gave him his number. They don't really talk about anything of substance, just, like…Keith saw a really cool spider while he was out working and sent Lance a picture which he meant to send to Shiro, and before he could apologize for texting out of the blue, Lance responded with a fuck ton of emojis and a few terrified gifs, and it just sort of took off from there.

But yeah, they were talking about their pets a couple of days ago. Lance had just finished going on about how much he loved Blue, and mentioned that he was going to take her for a walk, because she really loved going to the park.

Keith, lying on his bed with his arms hanging over the side, had frowned, confused. //I thought Blue was a cat?// he'd texted.

//she is?? U nvr walk ur cat???// Lance replied, and Keith had frowned, looking at his own cat. Red was laying across the end of the bed, ignoring him. She didn't seem all that interested in walking.

//No? I didn't know that was a thing people did. How do you walk a cat anyway?// Keith asked, a bit skeptical.

//D: animal abuser! and its gr8, u and me shud walk r cats 2gethr! i can show u the ropes ;))// Lance had replied. Keith had, after a few moments of blushing fiercely and shoving his face into a pillow as Red watched him with mild disgust, thought about it. He's the one who said he wanted to be friends with Lance, right? So it's only right that they do things together, like, y'know. Friends. This isn't a date, but it's something just as good. He gets to hang out with a new friend, one he made himself without Shiro's influence.

So he'd texted back, suddenly excited, //Yeah, sure! I'd love to, when are you free?//

Lance had replied, //:O kitty play date!! is fri good 4 u?//

Keith, after checking his schedule, replied, //Yeah, as long as it's after 2, because I'm in class till then.// And Lance sent back a ton of extremely pleased emojis, which Keith assumed meant agreement.

So here Keith is, on his way to the park that's about 15 minutes away from his and Shiro's apartment, with Red sitting in a basket on the front of his motorcycle. He got it for her a while ago--it hooks onto his motorcycle, and it's got a windshield, and a zippered top with little holes on the sides like windows. He honestly hadn't been sure about it when he got it, but Red _really_ likes going with him on motorcycle rides now, and he likes how happy it makes her. For this particular trip, he'd had to pick up a leash for Red's harness, but that was the work of only about 5 minutes in Petco--easy peasy.

He gets to the park and takes off his helmet, shaking his head vigorously as he tries to get his hair to fall into some sort of order instead of the usual helmet hair before he meets up with Lance. Of course, as he's doing this, he hears an incredulous, "Keith?" from behind him.

He whips around, almost dropping his helmet in surprise, to see Lance. "Uh, hey." He says, totally not awkward, and tries to surreptitiously fix his hair. Which is honestly an exercise in futility, it's gonna be a mess until he takes a brush to it. But Lance isn't even looking at him yet, he's looking at his bike. "You ride a _motorcycle_?" Lance almost whispers, reverently, and Keith blinks at him. It's not really that surprising, is it? Motorcycles aren't exactly rare.

"Yeah," Keith says, and turns and locks his helmet to his bike. Then he goes around the front and retrieves Red. She digs her claws into the cloth of her basket, just because she's an asshole (like him), not because she actually doesn't want to be removed, and he gently coaxes her free. She mrows at him, and he gives her a mild look. "None of that," he says, lightly tapping her nose with his index finger, and she scrunches it up before deciding that she'd rather hide than look at his face, and trying to bury her head under his arm. He allows it, sighing.

Then he hears a slightly choked noise, and looks up, frowning. Lance is still standing there, staring at the two of them, slightly red in the face. "C-cute," he stutters quietly, and Keith looks down at Red.

"Yeah she is, isn't she," He says, smiling softly and kissing her furry head. He loves his little girl.

Then he looks up again. "So, how do we do this?" He says, and Lance shakes his head once, twice, and a third time before putting on a slightly strained smile.

"Well, first you have to put her down." Lance says, and Keith does so, ignoring as she digs her claws lightly into his jacket for daring to release her before she ordered it. She stands there, flicking her tail lightly as she glares up at him, then she gets distracted by the grass. It's only a couple of moments before she's rolling in it, getting herself all tangled up in her leash as it loops under her back and arms.

"You silly thing." Keith murmurs, reaching down to free her. She nips playfully at him, and he puts a hand on her belly, rolling her gently back and forth. And then he remembers that he's actually supposed to be _walking_ her, and he stands from his crouch to look at Lance. Who's just…staring at him?

"Uh…Lance?" Keith questions, even as he glances behind him to see if Lance is looking at someone else. No one's there though. By the time he turns back, Lance has turned around and is picking up his own cat in his arms.

"This is Blue." Lance announces, and shoves her into Keith's arms. Keith flails for a moment, worried about how to hold her, but she makes it easy for him, stretching her arms over his shoulder to hook her claws in the back of his jacket, and tucking her feet against his chest as she purrs in his ear. She immediately starts licking his hair, which probably isn't helping it look any better.

"Nice to meet you," Keith says automatically, even though he feels like a bit of an idiot a moment later, but Lance gives him an approving smile, so he supposes he did alright. He sets Blue down gently, and almost immediately Red is all up in her space. Keith almost pulls her back, he's never seen her interact with other cats, and Red can be a bitch sometimes, but she just sniffs Blue a bit, and rubs her face against Blue's side, then sits back. Keith supposes that means she approves. Blue seems to take this as an overture of friendship, because she winds around Red, and starts grooming her ears.

Red gives Keith a long-suffering look, and Keith takes a picture.

Eventually Blue decides Red's ears are clean enough, and walks toward Lance, curling herself around his ankles. "Well alright then, let's get started!" Lance says, and untangles himself from Blue. "The first thing you need to know about walking a cat," He says as Blue begins to wander, "Is that you're not the leader here. She is." Blue stops to sniff at a small patch of buttercups, then continues on, and Lance follows.

"We're just following the cats, honestly. It's more of a leisurely wander than a conventional walk." Lance continues, gesturing at Blue with a bit of a shrug. Red stares after Blue with her head tilted slightly, then cautiously begins to creep after her, still unsure of how she likes the texture of grass beneath her feet. Keith, obligingly, follows. "I just figure this is a better way for her to get exercise than sprinting around the house. This girl has some major energy, and I just couldn't keep up anymore." Lance laughs a bit sheepishly, and Keith snickers a bit.

"I've kind of got a similar thing going with Red," He admits, "She was always trying to escape and then just lying in the hallway outside my apartment instead of actually going anywhere. I figured that she might enjoy motorcycle rides because at least then she gets to, like, go somewhere? So I got her a basket and stuff, and she really seems to enjoy going fast with me." He reaches down and gives Red one long stroke, from head to tail. She stares up at him for a moment, then returns to sniffing at a clover. Lance laughs at that, then steps forward, promptly tripping over Blue who's backtracked at this point to sniff whatever Red is sniffing.

He flails a bit, almost falling as he avoids stepping on either of the cats, but Keith manages to catch him by the arm, and yank him upright. And then they're just…standing there. Staring at each other, with Keith's hand around Lance's wrist. "T-Thanks, man." Lance stutters after a few long moments, and Keith pulls back like he's been burned.

"No problem." He says a bit stiffly, and Lance looks away, eyes on the ground as he nervously plays with the leash in his hand.

They walk in a bit of an awkward silence for a few moments, Keith frantically looking for something to say, when Lance asks, "Hey, Keith, are you from Tennessee?"

Keith, confused, replies, "Uh, no. I'm from Texas actually. Why?"

"Because you're the only ten I see," Lance replies with a huge, cheesy wink and finger guns, one far lower than the other since he's still holding onto Blue's leash. And just like that, the tension is broken, and Keith can't help but chuckle, some of it from relief, but mostly just because Lance is _ridiculous_.

"Oh god, where do you _get_ these?" He asks, honestly a bit curious.

Lance shrugs, replying, "I've just got a lot of creativity. And an affinity for google." Keith shakes his head at him, grinning, and they continue following their cats, talking about nothing in particular.

They're debating about Keith's crop top jacket ("It's _comfortable_ ," "Keith, you can't lie to me and tell me you're not cold when your _entire torso_ is out,") when Keith hears someone yell his name. He turns around, a little surprised, because he hadn't realized that Shiro would be out and about today--he'd thought his roommate was busy.

"Hey Shiro." He says, a little suspicious, as Shiro jogs up to them. He's wearing running clothes, and as he reaches them, he yanks one earphone out, tucking his phone away in his pocket. "Thought you were studying."

Shiro blinks innocently at him, "I am. I'm listening to a lecture as we speak." then he turns and looks at Lance, and does a double-take. "Lance?" He asks, sounding a bit surprised. Keith is _also_ surprised, but more because Shiro apparently knows his-- _the_ barista.

"Uh, h-hi Shiro!" Lance says a bit weakly, waving with the hand that doesn't have Blue's leash wrapped around it.

"I didn't know you knew Keith!" Shiro says cheerfully, and Lance replies, "I didn't know _you_ knew Keith,"

Keith says, "I didn't know you knew each other." In a voice that is probably suitably casual, but Shiro still gives him a Look. Well, he _shouldn’t_ , Keith certainly isn't _jealous_ or anything. Just, y'know. Curious as to where Lance knows his roommate from.

"Lance is in my Bio 201 class." He comments, and reaches out for a fist bump, which Lance grants easily enough, though he still looks rather surprised by everything going on.

Keith turns to Lance, surprised, and asks, "You go to our college?"

Lance blinks. "You go to my college?" He replies.

Shiro sighs gustily, pulling out his phone, and Keith whips around to glare at him, because _rude_. "Why are you even here?" Keith asks, suspicious again, and Shiro blinks guilelessly.

"I'm just running Keith, don't get your panties in a knot." But he's slipping his phone back into his pocket so that Keith can't see what he's doing as he tugs nervously at his white forelock, which he's got pulled back into a stupid little ponytail.

And Keith glares at him, because _he knows_. "Shiro, we talked about this." He's stepping up to Shiro, getting in his face and poking him in the chest with one finger. "We don't have unlimited data, so stop playing so much Pokemon Go!"

Shiro jerks a bit, guiltily, then draws himself up and pretends he's a responsible person, declaring, "I'm an adult, you can't tell me what to do." And then he just. Fucking runs away. Slow enough that Keith _could_ catch up if he really wanted to, but. He's got Red with him (and it has nothing to do with not wanting to leave Lance, nothing at all), and he doubts she's up to a moderate-speed chase. So Keith huffs, just glaring after Shiro. His roommate's the worst, their bill's gonna be shit this month.

He hears a choked sound behind him and turns to see Lance, face red, hands over his mouth. As soon as he meets Keith's eyes, he bursts out laughing. And Keith can't even blame him, really. "That's Shiro? The _senior_ in my class who always seems so responsible?? Playing too much Pokemon Go just like the rest of us peons???" Lance cackles, and Keith rolls his eyes.

"He's about as responsible as a child." He says grouchily, still staring after his roommate. Shiro can't escape him for long, he _knows_ where the guy sleeps. He'll get his revenge somehow. Then Keith shakes his head, and turns to Lance. "So, you're in Bio 201?" As he reaches down to pull a long strand of grass out of Red's mouth, he continues, "That's one of the animal bio classes, right? I feel like I remember Shiro bitching about something to do with gills."

Lance, now down to quiet snorts and giggles (which isn't cute at _all_ of course), replies, "Yeah, it's marine bio. I love that class, it's my favorite that I've taken so far. I actually, uh…don't laugh, okay?" He warns, and Keith nods at him, now curious. "I wanna be a dolphin trainer. And I figure this is a good start." Lance is staring hard at him, like he's _daring_ him to make fun of him.

Keith isn't sure how to respond. On one hand, he kind of wants to tell Lance that he wanted to be a zoo trainer when he was younger, if only for the hippos, but that's probably patronizing. He kind of wants to tell Lance that he looks beautiful when he's passionate about things. He kind of wants to give Lance the world. Instead, he blinks and responds, "So, you wanna go to the aquarium?" Y'know. Like a normal person.

Lance frowns a bit at him, confused. "What?"

"Well, you," Keith says haltingly, "I assume you like dolphins. So. I thought we could go to the aquarium."

Lance chuckles again, and says somehow fondly, "You're one crazy guy, huh? Yeah, I'd love to go to the aquarium with you."

And Keith _would_ bitch at him for that because he's not crazy, he's a pretty straight-laced guy most of the time that he's not around Lance, but well. He gets what he wants, so this is probably fine.

He glances down, and Red is staring up at him with an expression that's sort of like, "Wow you're hopeless, aren't you?" He doesn't deign to give her a response.

(She's right though.)

8.

Now that Keith knows he and Lance go to the same college, it seems like they bump into each other _everywhere_ . They're not in any of the same classes or anything, but they (and Hunk) meet up for lunch pretty often, and it seems like Keith's seeing him all over campus. He'd almost think Lance was stalking him, except for the fact that the guy always looks so _surprised_ to see him. Pleased, yeah, but still super surprised. It's kind of hilarious. Maybe Keith should start stalking _him_ , just for the laughs (and certainly not for the butterflies in his stomach every time Lance greets him with that surprised grin and those sparkling eyes).

Wait, no, that's weird.

But still, going to the same college makes meeting up for things _way_ easier.

It's Tuesday, and Keith's coming out of class, trying to shove his arm into his jacket as he tosses his notebook into his backpack and looks at his phone, holding a piece of paper between his lips. It's not going super well, shockingly--he just doesn't have enough hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone reaching for his phone, and he _almost_ jerks it out of their reach before he realizes that he recognizes those tan hands, and focuses on shutting his backpack instead.

"Aha!" Lance says as he snatches his phone, and Keith's happy to allow it, because he was probably gonna drop it in a sec. He shoves his arm into the sleeve of his jacket, yanks his backpack onto his back, and pulls the paper out of his mouth.

"Hey Lance." He says, helplessly fond, and Lance grins at him, then looks back down at the purloined phone.

"Sup man," He says easily, then sidles over to Keith and throws an arm over his shoulder. "Smile!" He declares, and starts snapping selfies. Keith allows it for only a couple of pictures (and certainly not because he's enjoying Lance's arm over his shoulders), then snatches his phone back. He ignores Lance's whine and begins walking, throwing a, "C'mon, we should probably head out if we wanna beat crowds," over his shoulder.

Lance comes up behind him, grinning, and Keith looks at him warily, because he _knows_ that look. "Hey Keith," he says, and Keith raises a brow at him, "I must be a snowflake, because I'm falling for you."

Keith rolls his eyes, and says, "You're one kind of special snowflake, that's for sure." He can't believe he even hangs out with this loser sometimes--who even _says_ pick up lines like this anymore. And he's totally not blushing a little bit either, shut up.

Lance cackles, and he doesn't _stop_ cackling until they're on Keith's motorcycle. Or hell, maybe he doesn't stop, it's not like Keith can hear him. The ride to the nearby aquarium is a quick one, they probably could've walked there if they really wanted, but Lance had been _insistent_ that he be allowed to ride Keith's motorcycle. Keith isn't exactly protesting, Lance's arms are a warm weight around his waist that he certainly has no problem with, but he can't help but wonder why Lance was so insistent.

In any case, they make their way to the aquarium easily enough, and he definitely doesn't take turns a bit faster than he normally would just to have Lance tighten his arms around Keith's waist. He waits for Lance to climb off, then hops off himself, locking his helmet and Lance's (which Lance had picked out _himself_ , what a nerd) to his bike, and dropping his keys into his jacket pocket. He resists the urge to slip his hand into Lance's, because this isn't a _date_ , this is just two dudes hanging out. Bros being bros. He's totally got this.

As they walk into the aquarium though, Keith immediately forgets that he's here with Lance. He forgets that he's feeling sort of awkward about asking Lance on an almost date. He forgets _everything_ as his gaze zeroes in on the front desk, and he gets a huge grin on his face. His grin is almost more a baring of teeth than a real smile, full of vindictive amusement and malice, and it's directed at the girl staring directly back at him, a shocked expression on her face.

There's no one in line, but Keith still takes his time walking through all the rows instead of just ducking under them like he normally would, head swiveling to keep her in view. He's vaguely aware of Lance following behind him, looking slightly terrified, but his main focus is on _her_ , and she's staring at him like her life just ended, and she wishes the ground would swallow her whole. By the time he reaches her, she's gathered her expression into something a little less horror-struck, and more the angry little midget he knows so well.

"Well hellooo~ there," Keith says, leaning forward on the counter. Not quite within reach, because he still has a sense of self preservation, but close.

"Kogane." She says politely through gritted teeth, and he knows that tone well enough for the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

"Fancy meeting you here, in this establishment." Keith says, taking a moment to slowly glance around himself, "So _this_ is why you didn't want to tell me where you work." He returns his gaze to her, and says, "Do you have fun with the other kiddies, Pidgeon? Must be nice to be with people your own age," just this side of condescending, and she gives him a quick venomous look before it returns to work-place neutral.

"Don't get arrogant just because I'm stuck behind this counter," Pidge replies, face neutral, but voice _sharp_ , "I could hop it and rip your mullet out within _seconds_."

And honestly he doesn't doubt her, but he can't help but look over what little of her he can see over the counter, and reply with a confused expression, "Are you really tall enough to do that?" For a second she _glowers_ at him and he suddenly knows how a mouse feels under the gimlet eye of a predator.

Deciding he's teased her enough for the moment, he leans back a bit and says, "I need two _adult_ tickets." Well, almost enough. He can't help it if she's only a young human, it makes her _so easy_ to rile up. He can see Lance out of the corner of his eye, wide eyed, but he can't focus on that right now, he's in battle. Pidge rings them up, and Keith pays before Lance can even offer to get his ticket. She reaches out and, instead of handing them to him, drops the tickets onto the counter.

And how can he pass that up?

"It's alright, I know you're not tall enough to reach quite this far." He says with a patronizing smile. Her eyes are like _razors_ and Keith is just a little bit terrified, but mostly very amused.

But then she smiles at him, warmly but with something dark in her eyes, and he's immediately on guard. "I'm gonna rip your nose hairs out one by one, Kogane." She grits out, still smiling. If he hadn't been close enough to hear her, he'd think she was saying something complimentary--that's how _real_ her smile is. It's terrifying.

And he knows she can do as she threatens--she knows where she lives and has a key to his apartment, but he still just smiles and says, "You can try," and risks reaching out to pat her on the head. He whips his hand back before she can bite him, because he _knows_ her.

Now having bothered her enough, and reminded that Lance is with him when the guy pokes him lightly in the side, Keith makes a quick escape, waving at her carelessly over his shoulder as he guides Lance away. She probably won't try to kill him here--she's more pragmatic than that. She'll wait until he's not expecting it.

It's not until they've put a few marine creatures between them and Pidge that Lance finally speaks. "Holy shit," He whispers, glancing back over his shoulder like he thinks she's gonna be right there, "You're a _dead man_. Who even was that?"

Keith blinks at him, then considers how that probably looked from an outside perspective, and chuckles a bit. "That was Pidge, she's my best friend." Lance looks a little less terrified, very relieved, and far more understanding now, so Keith has to add, "But yeah, she's definitely gonna kill me." And Lance starts glancing over his shoulder again. Keith's not sure why, it's not like she's after _him_.

Lance is silent for a moment as they look at some small green fish, but then he says, "Man, she was _angry_ and you were _terrifying_. I thought that was, like, your ex-girlfriend at first or something." He shivers a bit--he's had the fear of Pidge put in him, Keith can tell. Probably for the best, that. Then the rest of his sentence registers, and Keith bursts out laughing. Lance whips around to look at him, probably because he's never seen Keith laugh this hard before, but…

"Me? And Pidge??? Even if I weren't gay as a rainbow, she'd kill me within an _hour_!" Keith wheezes between laughs. he doesn't see Lance's eyes widen, so focused on trying to get his breath back, bent over almost double.

"You're gay?" Lance asks sounding slightly surprised, and Keith looks up at him, tilting his head a bit. He supposes it's not like he went out of his way to advertise it or anything, and it never came up.

So he says, "Yeah," then squares his shoulders and cocks a brow, "Is that a problem?" It's not as though he expects it will be, Lance has been joke-flirting with him after all, but growing up in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in Texas has made him a bit…defensive.

Lance immediately waves his hands in front of his face, panicked, "No, no, not at all, what the fuck? No, I'm bi myself, I was just uh…surprised?" There's an awkward pause, where Keith internalizes this information and Lance's eyes are darting around, frantically looking for something to change the subject. Then Lance practically yells, "Um. LOOK, A SEA TURTLE," And he darts off down the hall.

Keith, amused, gives him a moment, having a staring contest with a pufferfish for a bit before following. By the time he catches up with Lance a few minutes later, he's staring enraptured into a tank full of colorful coral and small fish. "I want a fish," He whines, and Keith _doesn’t_ immediately offer to buy him one, only because he's distracted by how Lance's eyes look in the blue-ish light of the tank. Probably for the best, really--even if he'd love to give Lance whatever he wants, his bank account is already yelling at him for the tickets.

The two of them wander around looking at sea creatures for the rest of the day--far longer than Keith's ever spent in an aquarium. Keith gets lots of descriptions of the anatomy of all the marine creatures they see, as well as mentions of their temperament and where Lance plans to put them in the house-aquarium he's going to have once he's a millionaire and lives underwater. It's all very interesting, and Keith wonders if Lance will maybe put in a bit of land for him somewhere so he can have a hippo--they're _sort of_ marine creatures, right?

All in all, the outing goes well, and Keith is very pleased to be out and about with Lance, even if he flirts with the fish.

9.

It's a lovely Sunday morning, and Keith's walking innocently on the sidewalk while trying to catch a charmander, when he crashes face first into a wall. A wall of _muscle_ that shouldn't have been in his way anyway.

Even as he falls to the ground, twisting so that his arm takes the brunt of the fall rather than his phone, he's hyping himself up to do battle. Whether that'll be a verbal battle or a physical one depends on how much of a dick the person who knocked into him is. Though, he should probably make sure his phone is alright first, because if he's broken another phone screen Shiro's gonna laugh at him.

He's glancing over his screen to make sure it's unscathed, which is thankfully is (and he caught the charmander, sweet), when he hears, "Oh my god I'm _so sorry_ , I--oh hi!"

Keith, who'd been preparing to throw hands, looks up confused, because if it isn't Lance, Shiro, or an alternate universe Pidge, they probably shouldn't be so happy to see him. But then he realizes he forgot a Very Important Person, as he's met with cheerful brown eyes, and a wide smile. "Oh, hey Hunk." He says, unable to help smiling back, and accepts the hand up off the ground that Hunk offers him. Hunk apparently overestimates Keith's weight, and nearly yanks him off his feet, then steadies him with one massive hand while the other brushes him off.

"So sorry dude, I should've been paying attention to where I was going." He says apologetically, and Keith just shakes his head smiling.

"Nah, it was my fault. Too focused on my phone." He says, and tucks his phone into his pocket. He really should've learned his lesson after he walked directly into that fountain while watching a youtube video about aliens, but somehow he hasn't.

"I'm glad I ran into you, actually. Well, not glad I _ran into you_ , but glad I saw you," Hunk says, and Keith raises a brow. Sure he likes Hunk, everyone probably likes Hunk, but he's surprised that Hunk's glad to see _him_ , and can't imagine why. He's kind of an asshole. "Lance has been talking about you guys' aquarium trip since Tuesday, he _really_ enjoyed it."

It takes all of Keith's self control not to go crimson, but he's sure that his cheeks are still a bit red. He can blame it on the cold, if anyone comments on it. "Really?" He finds himself asking.

"Yeah totally dude. It's super cute how excited he is, I love it when he's like this." Hunk's face softens, his grin becoming a smaller, but no less potent smile. His phone buzzes and he glances down at it, missing as Keith's own smile drops.

_Oh_ . They're _together_ . Lance and Hunk are _together_ , that's why Lance called him his _love_ when Keith first met Hunk at the coffee shop (and he totally hasn't accidentally memorized pretty much everything Lance has said). Wow, Keith feels so dumb now. He blinks up at Hunk, who's now responding to something on his phone with a grin, and he can totally see the appeal.

And he's jealous, he's _insanely_ jealous of Hunk, but there's no way he's going to interfere with their love in any way. Hunk is, as Lance once said, a beautiful sunshine child. He deserves the best. And it'll make it easier to be just friends with Lance if he knows he's off limits anyway. Even with this decided, it still smarts a bit to have their relationship suddenly shoved into the light, so Keith musters a smile and nods to Hunk, then says, "I'm sure. Well, I'll see you around," before turning to walk away. He kind of wants to go lick his wounds for a bit, honestly. Maybe curl up in a ball.

But then Hunk stops him with one hand on his shoulder. "Hey, wait up man," He says, and Keith looks at him over his shoulder, confused. Hunk grins at him and says, "Wanna come over and hang with me and Lance? I have to stop by the farmer's market first, but then we can head over to our place." They even _live_ together--man, Keith never stood a chance.

He wants to say no, _means_ to say no. But Hunk's giving him puppy dog eyes and a pleading smile, and somehow he says, "Yeah sure," instead. Great job, brain, you fucked it up.

But, well, it's too late to take it back now, Hunk's smiling like Keith just told him he solved world hunger or something. So Keith trails after Hunk as he heads down a couple of blocks and takes a few twists and turns through suspicious looking alleyways (and Keith wonders each time if Hunk's planning to murder him, but he never does). Hunk chatters all the way, and even draws Keith-the-black-hole-of-awkwardness into conversation, until they emerge in a cheerful, hastily assembled marketplace. There's stands everywhere, with brightly colored roofs and cheerfully painted wood fronts, and Keith kind of loves it here.

Hunk breathes in deeply through his nose, and exhales loudly. "You smell that?" He says, and Keith nods because yeah, he sure smells _something_ alright, though he's not sure what it is. "That's _fresh bread_ ," Hunk declares, "The best in the whole city." And then he's off, Keith still following, though a bit behind because he keeps getting distracted by all the fruit that's fresher than anything he's seen in his life, and is that a fucking swordfish? Do people eat swordfish???

By the time he catches up to Hunk (he's not hard to find in a crowd), the man's already reached his destination, a little stand practically _buried_ in all the fresh bread it's selling. And honestly, it smells fucking _delicious_ , Keith wouldn't be surprised if they sell out in an hour. He wanders up behind Hunk, peering curiously at all the different types of bread. He didn't even know there _were_ this many types of bread.

"Keith," Hunk says, drawing Keith out of his staring at the beautiful golden-brown loaves, "This is Shay." He gestures behind him, where a young woman with long brown hair, held back with a headband covered in blue gemstones, is standing. She smiles sweetly at him, the same kindness that Hunk displays shining through.

"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you." She offers, and Keith can't help but smile back, nodding to her and waving a bit.

"Shay makes the best bread in the _whole city_." Hunk declares proudly, and Keith notices her blushing.

"You're just saying that so that I will make you more bread." She says, and Hunk grins at her. They barter over a couple of loaves of bread, chatting easily back and forth, then Keith's being lead away, Shay waving at them as they head off, a massive smile on her face.

Hunk smiles and says, "Here, Shay gave me an extra loaf on the house for you," pulling a small bag with a loaf of bread in it out, and handing it to Keith.

"Wow, she must really like you." Keith says, even as he opens the bag to peer curiously at the bread inside. He can't help but take a piece off of it and pop it in his mouth--it's still _warm_ even. Wow.

"I should hope so, she's my girlfriend." Hunk says casually, and Keith reacts in a similarly calm and collected way. No wait, he fucking _chokes_.

Hunk whips around, concerned, and reaches out to pat him on the back, but Keith waves him off, tugging a bottle of water from his backpack and gulping some down. "But I thought you and Lance?" He finally says, still coughing a bit, and Hunk blinks at him, amused despite his concern.

"Dude no, he's just my friend. Well, my best friend." Hunk tilts his head curiously, "What made you think that?"

And Keith doesn't really have an answer other than "I'm clutching at straws trying to find reasons _not_ to be interested in Lance and that seemed like a pretty good one," so he takes advantage of currently choking and just weakly coughs some more instead of answering. Hunk blinks at him, then nods like Keith answered some kind of question, and Keith's not sure what Hunk just figured out but he's definitely wrong.

Sometimes, Keith wishes that he wasn't such an Awkward Gay. He wishes he could be a Responsible Gay like Shiro--but then, Shiro runs their phone bill up with Pokemon Go, so maybe he doesn't want to be him after all.

The duo manages to make it to Hunk and Lance's apartment without any more revelations or choking, just chatting about nothing in particular. Keith learns that, in addition to being a pastry god, Hunk is also an incredible engineer. The two of them end up talking about Keith's motorcycle, which he built himself, and Hunk has some advice about that odd clicking noise Keith's been hearing and ignoring (probably a loose cap, or his bike's about to explode. Neither of them is quite sure which it is, but they both agree that Keith should probably check that out soon).

They make their way up the stairs, and Keith holds all the bread while Hunk digs out his keys, and opens the door. It's a nice apartment--a little smaller than his and Shiro's, but neat. And the kitchen's huge for an apartment, which makes sense considering that Hunk likely cooks in it a lot. There's also the sound of muffled singing and a shower running, which Keith assumes is probably Lance, unless they have another roommate who sounds exactly like Lance. Probably not.

They step in, and Hunk retrieves the bread to put it somewhere in the kitchen. Before Keith can follow him, the singing and the shower become far _less_ muffled, and a door slams open.

There's Lance, in all his glory, a towel wrapped around his waist, face covered in a goopy gray mask, eyes clenched shut with dramatic passion as he sings into a hairbrush. Keith kind of hates himself for still finding this guy attractive. Also he can't stop _staring_ at that bead of water that's making its way down Lance's chest. He doesn't know what song Lance is singing, he doesn't really register much other than that large expanse of tan skin with water dripping down it, that towel that's slipping _almost_ too low, and blue eyes that open with a goofy grin, then widen as Lance registers that it's _not_ just Hunk in their apartment.

"Keith!" Lance squeaks, dropping the hairbrush and yanking his towel up further on his torso. That just reveals more of those long, _long_ legs, and Keith's still _staring_. He thinks Hunk is probably laughing in the background, but he can't really focus on that right now. Lance stares at Keith wide eyed for a moment, then turns to glare at Hunk. "You betrayer," he hisses, then scampers back into the bathroom, brush abandoned on the floor and towel pulled up almost high enough for Keith to see the backs of his thighs.

Hunk is definitely laughing.

Keith…Keith needs a moment. He goes over and sits down on the couch in a bit of a daze--he just can't stop thinking about all that beautiful tan skin and those legs--the couch jolts as Hunk plops down next to him. He looks over at the other man and he can see that Hunk is very clearly on the verge of bursting out laughing at him (again), but for the moment he's got a bit of a sympathetic smile on.

"Too much for you?" He asks, smiling gently, even as his lips twitch with the _need_ to grin.

Keith turns to stare at the blank TV screen thoughtfully. "I," He begins, then he pauses and taps his fingers against his thigh. "I hate that I still find him extremely attractive, even after that." He says musingly, though what he was planning to say was something super chill like, 'Nah, it's cool.'

Hunk blinks and starts laughing again, and Keith tries to smother himself in the couch.

-

Keith ends up staying over for lunch. Despite everything, it goes quite well. When Lance finally slinks out of the bathroom, dressed in sweats and an old t-shirt, Keith is sitting backwards in a chair at the kitchen table, his head pillowed on his arms as he chats with Hunk, who's bustling around the kitchen, putting the last touches on lunch. He glances over his shoulder to Lance and offers him a teasing smirk (like he wasn't practically comatose at the sight of a nearly naked Lance), and announces, "Lunch is gonna be ramen because I wanna take pictures of it and send them to Shiro so he can get jealous."

Lance, after taking a moment to clear his throat, squeaks out, "Great!" and sits down next to Keith. Keith studiously avoids eye contact, and almost falls out of his chair when Lance's elbow brushes his own--everything's going great.

Fortunately Hunk finishes up quickly, and soon all three of them have got piping hot bowls of ramen in front of them. "This looks really authentic, Hunk!" Keith says sincerely, and he takes a picture of it and sends it to Shiro. Shiro responds almost immediately, demanding to know which restaurant he's at--Keith laughs and sends him a shrug emoji, then watches as Shiro _loses his fucking mind_ over it. It's the greatest.

When Lance demands to see what's so funny, Keith happily hands over his phone, and soon Lance is cackling too, their awkwardness from earlier dissipating into nothing. Lunch goes great from there, the three of them just talk and laugh and chill for like, an entire hour.

Lance mentions that he's "scared man, your angry friend started sitting by me in my calculus class. She just keeps, like…staring. And she takes my paper and crosses out my answers in red pen until I get them right, it's like. Terrifying."

Keith laughs, putting down his glass of _homemade lemonade_ , holy shit Hunk, "Yeah, that's Pidge for you. At least it means she likes you though, if she didn't you never would've known she was in your classroom." Lance just looks more nervous at this, and Keith grins at him and stuffs more noodles in his mouth.

Hunk chuckles, and says, "Fair though, Pidge is pretty terrifying." At Keith's questioning look (since he doesn't want to spit noodles all over his hosts), Hunk says, "She and I have an engineering class together, and we pair up sometimes. She says I'm the only one in that class that doesn't make her wanna pull people's hair out." Keith nods, because yeah, that sounds like Pidge.

It's not until after they clean up (wherein Keith is roped into drying the dishes while Lance washes) that Hunk reveals that he's created a dessert for after lunch. He pulls it out of the fridge with a flourish, cuts a bit while Lance and Keith drool over its beauty, and presents each of them with a slice of their own. Keith doesn't know what it is, just that it's got peaches and strawberries and it's cake-y and _delicious_ and he's definitely gonna kidnap this man.

It must show on his face, because Lance immediately stands, glaring at him. "No, he's _my_ pastry maker!" Lance exclaims, and Keith shoots to his feet.

"Not if I steal him away!" He argues, beginning to inch around the table.

"I've known him for longer than you!" Lance declares, and Keith frowns at him.

"Yeah well, he took me to the farmer's market today, and he offered me a pastry the first time he met me!" He turns his gaze reverently to Hunk (who's staring at the two of them like they're crazy, probably for thinking either of them could take him _anywhere_ he didn’t want to go), "It's _fate_."

Lance makes a sound of disagreement through a mouthful of cake--of _Keith's_ cake, the little thief stole a bite of his cake! Keith gets ready to throw a pillow at him, but then Lance swallows, and frowns sadly saying, "I just remembered that Hunk's promised to Shay. We can't steal him."

Keith frowns too, lowering his weapon in thought. Shay is kind of awesome, and she makes, like. The _best_ bread he’s ever had. She and Hunk are sort of made for each other. So he leans forward over the table and steals a bite of Lance's cake (indirect kiss??), and demands, "Truce?" somehow managing not to spit crumbs everywhere.

Lance narrows his eyes at him, but nods. "Truce." He says, then his eyes light up, making Keith wary. "Hey Keith, are you a cake?" He asks, and Keith frowns at him. Undeterred, Lance continues, "Because damn, I wanna piece of that!" finger guns, eyebrow wiggle, and all.

Keith grabs Lance's cake off the table and shoves it into his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, I got a bit tired at the end here, but it's still basically what I wanted. Also there were some issues with my italics when I transferred over--I think I fixed them all, but maybe not so *shrugs*. See ya'll for the final one! Eventually XD.

**Author's Note:**

> And that’s part 1! Part 2’ll be out prolly pretty soon, whenever I get off my lazy butt.


End file.
